


And I Would Walk 500 More

by mycitruspocket



Series: Just The Man Who Loves You [2]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Community: inceptiversary, Established Relationship, Horses, M/M, Meeting the Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 19:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11698269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mycitruspocket/pseuds/mycitruspocket
Summary: “Would you like to join us for a ride after dinner, Arthur?”





	And I Would Walk 500 More

**Author's Note:**

> For my Inception Bingo 2017 trope card: Fish out of water

“Would you like to join us for a ride after dinner, Arthur?”

It takes Arthur an embarrassingly long time and Eames’ amused “Dad!” to realise that the man introduced to him as Quintus means riding an actual horse, and not a motorbike or in a fancy car. He remembers Eames’ tales about his adventures in the stables as a kid and about his childhood dreams about one day working with horses.

“Um,” Arthur stammers awkwardly, looking at the shepherd's pie on his plate, Eames’ favourite. “I’ve never, I mean, I can’t ride.” He absolutely hates to admit that he can’t do something.

“Pardon?” Quintus says, turning to Eames. “You said you met on the job.”

“Not that job, Quin,” Eames’ mother corrects him in a tone that sounds like it’s something she’s told him more than once but still doesn’t mind reminding him again in the least. “His real job.”

“Oh, thank you Rhona, dearest. My apologies, Arthur, I keep confusing them,” says Quintus cheerfully. “Can you ride a horse in a dream, then?”

Arthur just stares at him, then at Eames who is grinning like it’s the most normal thing to tell your parents you’re a dream criminal - and your boyfriend is too - and they spend the rest of the meal talking about if it’s possible for Eames to forge a horse.

He feels weirdly out of place here, even if the estate is not as huge as he imagined, but it’s still intimidating and looks like a setting for one of the terrible British crime dramas Eames loves so much.

It’s not that Eames’ parents aren’t nice. They are, as Eames always says, an odd kind of lovely, which is actually how Arthur would describe Eames as well. But not only does he know nothing at all about horses, he’s just not used to parents generally. His dad ran away when Arthur was 13 and it turns out when you decide to steal military technology from the top secret project you worked on, they tell your family some random, but heroic story about how you died in action while they try to hunt you down. They never found him and he never corrected them.

But here he is, with Rhona refilling his plate without asking him and Quintus calling him son with the same frequency that Eames calls him darling, and he thinks he could easily get used to this if they let him.

*

Before they go to bed that night, Arthur asks Eames to show him the stables. He’s never been that close to a horse before and having an audience other than Eames would make him even more nervous.

Eames takes his hand and leads him to a huge, dimly lit barn which looks very nicely taken care of. The strong smell, he supposes, is just part of the whole experience.

They walk past several boxes and the horses inside whicker quietly as they pass, Eames smiles at each of them. He stops at the very end, just stands there for a few seconds and looks at the black horse inside.

“He my girl, you still remember me?” Eames’ voice is soft and the horse steps closer, pushes her head over the gate of the box and snickers happily. “Aww hey, there you go Rosie. Say hi to Arthur, yeah?”

The horse actually looks over to Arthur at that and makes a soft sound. Eames has already opened the gate and is patting Rosie’s neck, lets her sniff at his hair and keeps talking sweet nonsense to her. It all looks safe enough for Arthur, so he steps inside as well.

“Hey Rosie,” he says awkwardly, which earns him a quiet snort from the horse. He flinches as she shakes her head, but Eames takes his hand again.

“Try to touch her nose, it’s the softest thing,” Eames beams at him and Arthur reaches out, feeling bold.

And Eames is right, it feels like warm velvet and Rosie nudges his hand playfully.

“She’s gorgeous,” Arthur says, reaching out to pat her neck as well. “She’s fucking huge and intimidating, but gorgeous.”

“She’s an old lady now, I rode her when we both were young,” Eames laughs. “We don’t let anyone ride her anymore, but we can take a slow walk with her tomorrow, if you want to get to know her better.” He turns back to the horse, kissing her nose. “How would you like that, my dear Rosie?”

Rosie nods excitedly and Arthur can only wonder if she really understands what Eames is saying.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Arthur says and steps behind Eames, snaking his arms around him. “You know what would also be nice? Making out in the hayloft, but since you just kissed a horse, we better leave that for tomorrow as well.”

“And if I’m real quick and go wash my mouth?” Eames pouts and as Rosie manages to look offended, Arthur can’t help but laugh at the ridiculous pair of them. “Please,” Eames adds somewhat desperately.

“Yes, ok, go wash your mouth,” Arthur says because they could both use a bit of carefree fun after the past few days.

Eames grins and jogs off, Arthur can only hope it’s not to the horse trough at the entrance.


End file.
